Read the scholarly journal article, “What Makes it Easy or Hard for You to Do Your Homework?” from the journal Current Issues in Education. Notice the format and length of a scholarly journal article. It is much different than a magazine article. The discourse is content specific and often there are sections including methodology, results and references.
A sample scholarly journal article summary using MLA style is attached. Use this sample summary as your guide to write your own scholarly journal article summary. Pay close attention to the content and format of the summary. Apply this template to your summary assignment.
Use our College of DuPage library database to search for your scholarly journal article. .
Scholarly Journal Assignment
Scholarly Journal Assignment
You are required to collect 1 scholarly journal source and write a summary. The summary should be one page, double spaced with the MLA citation formatted at the top. The summary should include one relevant quotation from the scholarly journal source and paraphrase of an article you found worthwhile from the original journal source. Since time is important, you most likely will not have enough time to read the entire journal consequently, choose a relevant article that stood out to you and is directly related to your topic. Summarize that article in one page.
Unit 2 also involves building upon your data collection by investigating scholarly journals. A scholarly journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. The articles are usually long and in-depth based on research studies. Look for key vocabulary words such as:
Methodology
Participants
Results
References
Literature Cited
Scholarly journals are discourse specific and can be dense reading material. In other words, the journal is written for a specific audience within that related field. For example, as an English Professor at College of DuPage, I subscribe to the following scholarly journals as part of my membership in professional organizations and to remain current in my areas of study:
Teaching English in the Two-Year College
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy
College Composition and Communication
Some of the vocabulary words in these journals include: phonemic awareness, pragmatic, basal texts, active schema and pedagogy. These are words we often use in the field of composition and critical reading. The information contained in these journals assists me in examining the theoretical framework of teaching as well as investigating multiple approaches and techniques for instruction.
Articles contained in a scholarly journal are different than in a popular magazine, which has a wide distribution base targeting general audiences with popular or current news stories. Authors are not usually scholars in a specific discipline and do not conduct original research. These articles are also not peer-reviewed. Popular magazines may contain more pictures or graphics and consumer driven advertising. Popular magazines I subscribe to include topics that interest me:
Better Homes and Gardens
People
Time
Trade journals are periodicals restricted to the interests of a trade or industry. Trade journals can be a key source of information about people, businesses and industries. You can find trade journals by topic or industry. Articles from many trade journals are available from major database vendors. In addition, several Internet sites let you browse trade journal articles free of charge or you may choose to purchase articles.
Manufacturing Chemist
Foundry Trade Journal International
APA Monitor
What is a Scholarly Journal?
What is a Popular Magazine?
What is a Trade Journal?
It is important to distinguish between a scholarly journal, popular magazine and trade journal. Many indexes, especially online databases, can contain references to these sources. How can you tell the difference? See the chart below for some important characteristics.
Scholarly Journal Popular Magazine Trade Journal
title of the source may have the words “Journal,” “Transactions,” “Proceedings,” or “Quarterly,” may appear in the title
often published monthly or seasonally
usually published by a scholarly publisher (like a university press)
consecutively numbered through each volume
main purpose is to report on original research
more complex writing style
includes research articles on special topics
may include graphs, tables, charts
articles usually include bibliographies
usually published bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.
may have a bright, attractive cover, many glossy pictures
designed to attract a broad segment of the population
usually published by a commercial publisher
characterized by short articles written by staff, often articles are unsigned
non-technical, popular writing style, easy to understand
focus on current events, popular top
